For immediate release:

Free Cal State L.A. Seminar Is Open to the Public TODAY,
Wednesday, May 11

LOS ANGELES, CAÂThree humanities fellows at
California State University, Los Angeles will explore the
courageous and inventive ways in which Americans use their bodies
and voices to create new communities and put down roots in often
unfriendly soil as the theme of this year's American
Communities Spring Seminar, TODAY, Wednesday, May 11 from 2-4 p.m.
in the CSULA Music Hall.

The event, which explores the ways in which American
communities represent, embody, and perform the spaces and places
they call home, represents the second annual installment of the
American Communities seminar series. This yearÂs seminar
features the most recent Arts and Letters faculty to be awarded
American Communities fellowships: Lauri Ramey (English),
San San Kwan (Theatre Arts and Dance), and Michelle Hawley
(English).

Dr. Ramey will present: ÂBody, Space and Place In The
African American Spirituals,Â an investigation of how
spirituals enabled slave-poets to transform their physical
experience into a conceptual space in which they could achieve a
sense of African American community, individual identity, and
hope. Dr. KwanÂs ÂChinese Los Angeles: Choreographing
CommunityÂ applies her knowledge of dance to discuss the ways
ÂChinesenessÂ in Los Angeles embodies the intersection of local
and global cultural flows. Dr. HawleyÂs, ÂThere Is No Place
Like Home: The Geography of Multicultural Picture Books,Â
examines how a new generation of culturally conscious authors have
created narratives of Latino, African-American, and multi-ethnic
community life that challenge the idealized homes of classic
American childrenÂs fiction.

The American Communities Program focuses on the intersection of
individual and community identity in American cultures. The
program sponsors research that examines the impact of that process
on the evolution of American cultures and values. Through
research, teaching, and the sharing of insights, this program
analyzes and assesses the evolving nature of what it is to be an
American by investigating the ways individuals and communities
invent and change American culture.

Admission is free and open to the public. For event further
information call the Cross Cultural Centers at (323) 343-5001 or
email Victor Valle at: <vvalle2@calstatela.edu>.

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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los AngelesÂ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 170,000 alumniÂwith a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the cityÂs dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Among programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include a noted alternative energy technology initiative; an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab now under construction. www.calstatela.edu